For more than 15 years, from 1926 until 1 ½ weeks before he died in 1942, Col. T.J. Tilson could be seen daily, briskly striding the five blocks from his home at 227 Beech to the old First National Bank building at Sixth and Ash. There he would take his place on the outdoor benches of "spit and whittle corner," holding court and discussing politics and the important matters of the day.

"I've heard that he was always impeccably dressed," recalls granddaughter Anna Ann Robertson. "And he would pause each day at Capt. (Winfield) Holbrook's house (300 Beech) to pay proper respect to the flag (flying in front of the house) before continuing on."

One of Plainview's most influential pioneers, Tilson was born Nov. 16, 1847, in Washington County, Va., the youngest of 10 children of Mr. and Mrs. David Tilson. His great-great-grandparents came over to America as children on the Mayflower.

Although not a military man, Thomas Jefferson Tilson received the title "colonel" upon graduation from Liberty Hall Academy in Virginia, then considered one of the best academies in the nation. And he soon put that education to use.

He married Ann Alderson, daughter of Capt. and Mrs. George Alderson, on Dec. 27, 1870, in Washington County, and they moved to Hunt County, Texas, in 1873. Just 26 years old, he taught school during the day and studied law at night.

In 1874, the couple went back to Virginia on business, and there he taught another year while becoming licensed to practice law.

The following year they returned to Hunt County where he continued to teach and practice law. Tilson taught a total of six years in two states.

His career as an educator finally ended, Tilson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a 1937 interview, after he had accumulated a number of teacher's pay vouchers that he wasn't able to cash. Instead, he traded them for 84 acres of land and moved to Greenville to practice law and farm. Eventually he was able to increase his holding there to a total of 400 acres.

It was during this time that he was elected to represent Hunt County in the 18th Texas Legislature, from 1883-84. As state representative, "Tilson was active in passage of the law against fence cutting, a law that made it a penitentiary offense for a person to carry a pair of pliers," the Star-Telegram explained in the 1937 article marking Tilson's 90th birthday.

Widely condemned by pioneer ranchers and cattlemen who practically considered it a birthright to freely graze cattle on the vast open ranges of West Texas, the Tilson-sponsored measure made fence-cutting a penitentiary offense and hastened the rapid settlement of this region as farmers were able to protect their crops with strands of barbed wire stapled between stout posts.

After a six-year hiatus, Tilson was again elected to the Texas House, serving in the 22th Texas Legislature from 1891-92. During this term he joined with Gov. Stephen Hogg to push through a measure creating the Texas Railroad Commission.

In 1902, he and his wife sold their land in Hunt County and moved to Hale County, with Tilson buying five sections of land about 12 miles southeast of Plainview. There they engaged in farming, ranching and raising children.

"There were only three gates between their house and town," explains June Terrell, widow of grandson Floyd Terrell. Their farm, near the intersection of FM 789 and FM 2883, includes Col. Tilson's "homeplace." The operation was honored several years ago by the Texas Department of Agriculture's Family Land Heritage Program in recognition of a century of continuous agricultural operation by the same family.

The Tilsons had a total of nine children, with five still alive when Col. Tilson died in 1942 at age 95. He wife died in 1934. Those surviving children included Mrs. J.T. Terrell, Hugh Tilson, Mrs. W.W. Kurfees, W.H. Tilson and J.M. Tilson, all of Plainview, along with 23 grandchildren. A granddaughter, Alline Terrell, also made her home with Col. Tilson.

As the children came of age, Tilson gave each 256 acres of farmland with the remainder of his 1,700 acres being distributed to them upon his death.

In 1902 Tilson helped establish Southeast School in a rented house 16 miles southeast of Plainview. The next year, the school was moved to another house two miles away. In 1904, it was moved again when a permanent structure was constructed a half-mile away. Tilson named the school Bellview in honor of John Bell, an early settler in the area.

In 1914, voters sent Tilson back to Austin as representative from the 120th District. They re-elected him two more times, in 1916 and 1918.

One of his notable pieces of legislation during this period was the "jack rabbit bill," which intended to encourage eradication of the West Texas crop pests by providing a bounty of 5 cents on each pair of ears.

At the start of the Populist and free silver movement in the 1890s, Tilson stumped East Texas. He spoke many times for presidential candidate Williams Jennings Bryan and appeared often on the same platform with Populist leader J.H. Cyclone Davis.

A staunch prohibitionist, Tilson boasted to the Star-Telegram that he voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since Horatio Seymour in 1868 to 1936, with the exception of Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt. He voted against those two, he said, because of their favorable views on liquor. Tilson even attributed his longevity and good health to "regular habits and temperance." He used neither tobacco nor liquor and drank only one cup of coffee daily.

According to his Herald obituary, 95-year-old Tilson remained quite active until suffering a fall at his home. He died 10 days later from complications which developed following that injury.

In a tribute, Edward T. Coleman wrote in a letter to readers, "Col. Tilson has stood as a giant oak in the forest of humanity and given seed thoughts that have taken root and are now a part of our nation's thought and existence. . . .

"The solution of the world's perplexities, sorrows and injustices may never be made here, but you, Colonel, did your part to solve them and make them lighter."

(Contact Doug McDonough at dmcdonough@hearstnp.com or 806-296-1350. Become his fan on Facebook.)